The leading people of Goumbi had met, and protested that no one wanted to bewitch their king; they all wanted him to live to the end of time.
Now they all sat in a circle on the ground; each man had a short stick in his hand; and Olanga-Condo was to take his position in the centre and drink the mboundou in their presence.
HOW THE MBOUNDOU IS MADE.
In the mean time I had assisted in the operation of making the mboundou, an operation which the drinker does not witness. A few red roots of the plant called by them the mboundou were brought in, and the bark was scraped off by several of the natives into a vessel; into this a pint of water was poured, and in about a minute fermentation took place, and the beverage effervesced almost like champagne. The water soon became quite red, and was the very color of the bark when the effervescing ceased. Two of Olanga-Condo’s friends were present during this operation to see that all was fair.
DRINKING THE MBOUNDOU.
When the mixture was ready Olanga-Condo came, went to the centre of the circle, and the bowl containing the poison was banded to him: without faltering for a single moment, but full of faith, he emptied the bowl at one draught.
In about five minutes the poison took effect. He began to stagger about; his eyes were injected; his limbs twitched convulsively; his voice grew thick; his veins showed themselves prominently, and his muscles contracted. His whole behavior was that of a drunken man. He began to babble wildly, and then it was supposed that the inspiration was upon him. The people beat regularly upon the ground with the short sticks they held, and sang in a sort of doleful voice—
“If he is a witch, let the mboundou kill him,
If he is not, let the mboundou go out.”